


Reading Between the Lines

by DraedensEmissary



Series: Home is Where the Heart Is [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Braeden & Stiles Friendship, Braeden doesn't like to talk about feelings, Derek Hale & Scott McCall Friendship, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Derek is a Good Boyfriend, Draeden, F/M, Malia and Stiles are best friends, Oblivious Derek, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, derek is nice, most of the time...., post-season3b
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:56:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1966317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraedensEmissary/pseuds/DraedensEmissary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Of course she likes you Derek... I don't see why, but she does," Stiles jokes.</p><p>"How do you know? She always seems closed off when she's near me." </p><p>"Braeden's a tough girl, of course she's closed off," Scott added.</p><p>"That still doesn't mean she has feelings for me," Derek shrugs.</p><p>"Yes she does. I know Braeden, we are closer than you think."</p><p>Or</p><p>The one where Stiles, Scott, and Derek are friends and Braeden and Stiles become best friends. Also, Braeden and Derek fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading Between the Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! It's Breyana and Samantha! We decided to co-write this together! This is our first collab, but hopefully not the last! Please bear with us through this... Journey.

Derek wasn’t quite sure when or how he had gotten close to Scott and Stiles. It had probably taken place right after the Nogitsune, considering that’s when Scott started calling him to hang out with him and Stiles. Stiles, he was considerably closer to than Scott. Sometimes Stiles would show up to Derek’s loft in the middle of the day, even if he should’ve been school, ranting about somebody or something. Derek would comfort Stiles when he’d have his days where the thoughts of the Nogitsune possessing him would get him down. Stiles would comfort Derek when the loss of Boyd and Erica would occasionally put a damper on his mood. Overall, Derek would probably say, Scott and Stiles were like the best friends he never had, and never knew he wanted.

_Open the door Sourwolf, me and Scott are out here._

_**The correct way to say that would be, ‘Scott and I’. Correct grammar is key, Stiles.** _

_Shut up and open the door._

Derek laughs at his own wit and walks from his bed to said door, opening it for the two teenagers he had grown to love. “Why are you two always here? Don’t you have homework...Or a life?”

“Oh, come on Derek. You love it when we come to visit you,” Stiles says as he plops down on the couch putting his feet on the coffee table.

“Besides, we brought Mexican!” Scott chants as he places the three boxes of food on the coffee table next to Stiles’ feet.

“I don’t like Mexican,” Derek grumbles as he walks into his small kitchen looking for forks and cups.

“Oh please, everyone loves Mexican food. Now hurry up and grab utensils so we can dig in.” Derek rolls his eyes at the two hooligans in his living room and opens his recently refilled refrigerator.

“I’ve got Coke, Pepsi, and Pink Lemonade, which do you guys want?”

“Beer!” The two boys scream simultaneously.

“Pepsi it is!” Derek laughs as he hears them groan and mumble about Derek being a ‘Sourwolf’, and pours two cups of Pepsi for the boys and grabs a cold beer for him just in spite of them. Derek wasn’t going to lie; he had really grown to love the two boys. There were like his brothers/best friends, and he was glad they still chose to come around and spend time with him, even though he didn’t really show how much he appreciated them as often as he should. Do you know the warm, at home feeling you get when you’re with the people you care about most? Well, Scott and Stiles gave Derek that sense of home and comfort, the sense of comfort where you can just let go and relax.

"So, Derek want to hear about our day at school today," Scott asked while prodding at Derek's cheek.

"Only if you stop touching me."

Scott gives his familiar,hurt puppy-dog eyes and brings his hand to himself, "Fine. Anyway, today, Kira and I made it official! I mean... I think we made it official, we kind of made out in the middle of the hallway... Does that make it official?"

Stiles shouts 'yes' at the same time Derek says 'no'. Stiles rolls his eyes and shoos Derek's attitude away. "Man, that does count, and that's great buddy. About time you guys officially became Mr. and Mrs. Kira Yukimura."

"Mr. and Mrs. Yukimura? Why not Mr. and Mrs. Scott McCall?" Derek looks at Stiles, as if he had a very foul body odor. 

"Yeah, why not Mr. and Mrs. McCall?"

"Oh come now, we all know Scott never wears the pants in _**any**_ relationship he's in. Scott is as soft as a plush teddy bear."

Scott whimpers at that and looks as if someone kicked his cat. "I am not. I am the _TRUE_ Alpha, I'm tough and hard!" Derek laughs at Scott's last statement and takes a swig of his beer. "That's not funny. You guys are seriously mean! I'll have you know, that I  _do_ wear the pants in this relationship."

"Right. Whatever helps you sleep at night buddy."

"Well, we all know Lydia wears the pants in your relationship."

"Yeah, but I'm not afraid to admit that. I like my women strong anyway," Stiles smirks. "That means they're good in bed. Lord knows Lydia is good in bed."

Derek throws ground beef at Stiles as he drifts into a daydream about Lydia.

"Hey!"

"We don't want to hear about your sex life Stiles."

"Yeah, please keep that to yourself, especially when we're not all getting some," Scott begs and pleads.

 

* * *

 

The boys leave a few hours later, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts. _What am I doing with my life?_ Derek thinks to himself. _I'm a 27 year old, with no wife, or even a girlfriend, I have two friends.... And they're 17 years old._  He was utterly confused about what he was doing wrong. He put his leftover tacos in the refrigerator and makes his way to his bedroom. He changes into his night clothes and lays in bed.

Once he's settled he grabs a book and reads for a few hours before heading to bed.

 

* * *

 

 

A week later, Derek is awakened in the early hours of the morning, by the smell of fresh coffee. He sniffs the air and is mesmerized, but then he remembers the only person that lives with him is Peter, and who knows where he's been for the last three weeks. He creeps out of bed and stalks quietly into the hallway, already half transformed into a wolf. When he gets into the kitchen, he tackles the intruders to the ground, choking both of them.

"AHHHH!" The intruders yell while struggling to catch a breath.

"SCOTT?! STILES?!" Derek yells. "WHAT THE _HELL?!"_ He scrambles off of the two morons laying on the floor and glares at them. He pulls them both off of the cold floor and gives them the evil eye. "Now, would you care to explain to me WHAT the _HELL_ is going on and _WHY_ the HELL you two morons are in my house at 7:15 A.M.?!"

"Well, actually we've been here since 6:30 A.M., but we decided to make you coffee at 7:15," Stiles points out.

"We figured it might make things easier for you to handle."

"I DON'T CARE. HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN?! I JUST HAD A LOCK INSTALLED LAST MONTH!"

"Stiles had a key made! Smart isn't it?" Scott says as he sits on the couch.

"YOU HAD A KEY MADE TO MY LOFT?! DO YOU KNOW HOW PSYCHOTIC YOU SOUND? ALSO, YOUR FATHER IS THE SHERIFF. IF I DECIDED TO TAKE LEGAL ACTIONS ON THIS, BOTH OF YOU WOULD BE CHARGED WITH BREAKING AND ENTERING."

"Dude, chill. We wouldn't have broken in if there wasn't a serious reason for it. Just... Stop yelling, pour some coffee, and sit on the couch. We need to talk to you." Stiles takes a seat next to Scott and waits for Derek.

Derek grabs three mugs, sugar, and milk, and pours each of them a cup of coffee. He hands both of them a mug and sits across from them. He takes a few sips of his coffee before asking questions. "So what's bad? I can smell the anxiety and nervousness coming off of both of you in waves... And both of your hearts are beating like crazy." Derek was getting a little worried. There was clearly something _very_ wrong, the looks on their faces show it all. He decides he's making it bigger than it needs to be. "Whatever it is, it can't be any worse than Stiles being possessed by an evil Japanese spirit two moths ago.

"Oh it might be..." Scott mumbles as he elbows Stiles to speak up.

"Look Derek... I'm going to sugar coat anything or spoon-feed you this information. I'm just going to lay it all out on the table."

"That's all I ask," Derek retorts with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"So... Remember your psychotic ex-girlfriend Kate? The one that manipulated you when you were a teenager, and burned your house down along with your family? She's also the one whose throat got ripped out by your psychotic uncle. Remember her?" Derek deadpans and puts his head in his hands.

"Yes, I vaguely recall knowing her," Derek bites out with even more sarcasm. "Why?"

"Well... Turns out her throat is back, and she's alive again... And we have a feeling she's more vengeful than ever." Derek stares at the two boys in front of him for a few seconds before breaking out into a fit of laughter. He continues to laugh for another 25-30 seconds until he realizes that they're serious.

"You're serious?"

"As a heart attack."

"Oh my gosh..." Derek's gulps down the rest of his coffee before speaking again. "H-How? How is this even possible?"

"Apparently, if the scratch goes deep enough--" Scott starts, but soon gets cut off.

"It'll cause you to change..." Derek finishes. "So what, she's a werewolf now?"

"Not exactly," Stiles starts. "She's what you would call a were-jaguar."

"A were-jaguar? What the hell is a were-jaguar?"

"I kinda thought it was in the name Derek..."

Derek ignores Stiles sarcasm and begins talking to himself, "What the hell is Peter's genes or claws or whatever. He can create True Alphas, Banshees, Were-Coyotes, and Were-Jaguars, it's like a freaking Halloween party everyday."

"Sorry man... We thought it'd be better to tell you when we first found out."

"Sorry to dump all of this on you at," Scott pauses. "8:02 in the morning."

"I-I don't... I can't deal with this right now."

"Yeah man, we totally get it. We just told you your psychotic girlfriend is back from the dead a were-jaguar, I'd be pretty freaked out too," Scott apologizes.

"I'm going to go back to sleep... I'll call you guys when I wake up, and Scott can call a pack meeting or something. We can come up with a plan then."

"What? No! We need to come up with a plan _now_ , like _right_ now!" Stiles exclaims while he flails his arms all over the place.

"Dude, be more considerate of his feelings. How would you feel if we just dumped something like that on you when you're not even fully awake?" Scott asks as he places a hand on Stiles' shoulder to make him stop flailing.

"Fine, but as soon as you wake up call us."

"I'll call you guys around 3," Derek says. "I'm also going to need to think by myself Stiles."

"Okay, okay."

"See ya Derek," Scott calls out.

As the boys exit the loft, Derek makes his way back to his bedroom and restarts his sleep for another few hours.

 

* * *

 

Derek rises around noon. He lies in bed thinking about his present situation for about an hour and a half, before he decides to shower and get dressed. He shoots Scott and Stiles a text around 2:45 to let them know they should be at his loft by 6:15.

At 5:30, he begins placing food on the coffee table knowing that the pack likes to eat. He lays out chips, popcorn, and fruit snacks, along with soda and water. The pack begins arriving at six. Stiles arriving with Lydia and Malia, and Scott arriving with Kira. The group filed onto the couch and floor and began devouring the snacks that had been set for them and began chatting amongst themselves. About thirty minutes later Scott and Derek call the meeting to order.

"May I ask what we're doing here? 'Say Yes to the Dress' comes on at nine and I _refuse_ to miss it," Lydia states as she examines her freshly-manicured nails.

"Lydia," Stiles puts his an around her shoulder "This is much more important than 'Say Yes to the Dress'."

"Oh Stiles, sweetie, that's where you're wrong. 'Say Yes to the Dress' comes before _any_ supernatural conflict."

"How do you know it's supernatural conflict?" Malia inquires as she shoves a few fruit snacks into her mouth while glancing at Lydia. Lydia rolls her eyes and sighs.

"Oh sweetheart, since you're still new to the pack, I'll explain something to you. Okay?"

"... Okay?"

"In this pack, the only time we have pack meetings, especially ones of short notice like this one, is when there's something supernaturally wrong in Beacon Hills. So unless Scott and Derek have decided that the pack should just spend time together, which will most likely never happen, then there's some kind of conflict," Lydia construes while she stares at Scott and Derek. Malia nods and goes back to devouring fruit snacks.

Derek looks at Scott and signals him and Stiles to explain everything, considering they know more than him.

 

* * *

 

After an hour of confusion, complaining, wincing, and yelling, the boys had finally explained everything to the remaining pack members and waited for them to ask more questions.

" _Well_ , I guess I was wrong, which is very rare by the way, this _is_ more important than 'Say Yes to the Dress'."

"Wait... So you're telling me... Kate Argent, Allison's psychotic aunt and Derek's psychotic ex-girlfriend, who had her throat ripped out by Peter, Derek's psychotic uncle, is back from the dead as a were-jaguar, and she's most likely plotting to seek revenge on us?" Kira asks with wide eyes.

"Well, mostly Derek and Peter, but I'm sure she'll come after all of us," Stiles counters as he scratches the back of his neck.

"Well, we're going to come up with a plan right?"

"No, we were kind of just planning to let her attack. Of course we're going to come up with a plan," Stiles answers sarcastically, leaving Kira to pout.

"I have an idea!" Malia shouts and she shoots up from the floor. "We could trap somewhere, once we find her of course, and I could _claw her face off_." Silence fills the room along with tension. Heads slowly turn to her and Malia sits down quietly, "I guess that's a no," she whispers to Lydia. Lydia rolls her eyes, massages her temples, and pats Malia's leg.

"That's a no sweetheart."

"Well, I have an idea," Scott chimes in with one of his goofy, lopsided smiles.

"Not now Scott, the geniuses are thinking," Stiles shoos Scott away as he and his girlfriend try to come up with a plan.

"What's your idea Scott?" Derek, the only one showing interest in his statement, asks.

"Thank you Derek, since nobody else seems to care that I've come up with an _extraordinary_ plan. My plan requires money though... Lots of it."

"Okay, go on." The other pack members give Scott their attention and wait for him to explain his plan.

"Remember Braeden? The mercenary that rescued you and Peter a few months ago and saved Isaac's ass also?"

"Yes, I remember her," Derek answers, not taking his eyes off of Scott.

"Well, why don't we get Stiles to figure out her contact information and hire her to find Kate and bring her back to us and then we can take care of her?" Scott asks with hopeful eyes.

"Scott, that is the smartest thing I have ever heard you say!" Stiles yells and stands.

"Than-- Hey! I've said plenty of smart things."

"Sure buddy. Anyway, that is a _great_ idea!" He pulls his laptop from his bag and begins looking for contact information for mercenaries. Derek thinks about the idea and nods his head in agreement.

"That's actually a really good idea, but we should come up with a back up plan if we can't contact or find her."

"Oh I'll find her," Stiles shouts from behind his laptop.

"I think it could work," Kira, Malia, and Lydia all say simultaneously.

 

* * *

 

After hours of searching, Stiles finally finds the information needed to contact Braeden around 9:30 P.M., but it's about 10:45 when they finally get a response from her. Malia and Kira had drifted off into a sleep around 10:15.

"Well, when should we expect her to make an appearance?" Derek asks as he grabs another slice of pizza that was ordered at nine.

"She's out on a job right now, but she said we could expect her to show up needing information about Kate, and a guess on where she could possibly be hiding, in about a week and a half, two weeks at the most. She also said we could discuss payments when she gets here," Scott provides.

"What if Kate is back before two weeks is up? How do we know two weeks isn't too late?" Derek sighs.

"We don't, but it's better than nothing. We just need to come up with a Plan B. I know this is a lot for you Derek, and we know it's frustrating, but you can't think like that. You need to think positively," Stiles responds, trying to provide comfort to his hurting friend.

"For all you know, Braeden might show up earlier than she says," Scott chimes in, also trying to be comforting.

"I hope so," Derek mumbles.

"It'll all work out buddy."

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive me for this ending, I'm not good at ending chapters.


End file.
